Chinese book fans set out on mountain trek in search of fictional door

Hardcore fans of a series of Chinese novels are planning a trek to a remote location described in the books – despite the author's pleading for them to stay at home.

Daomu, translated as Grave Robber's Chronicle, is a nine-part series charting the adventures of a tomb raider and his uncle, who solve mysteries and have supernatural encounters on a quest for hidden treasure.

The books, bearing titles such as Cavern of the Blood Zombies and Palace of Doom, have amassed a huge following in China, with the first volume alone selling more than three million copies. Devoted fans write their own sequels and attend conventions dressed as their favourite characters.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

However, some hard-core fans are going one step further by organising a real-life quest. A key plot point in one of the novels hinges on a character disappearing through a mysterious door in the Changbai mountains on 17 August 2005. He instructs the novel's protagonist Wu Xie to come to the spot, on the border with North Korea, ten years later. Around 300 fans now plan to follow in Wu Xie's footsteps by descending on the remote area, the BBC reports. Frenetic social media activity has spread word of the unlikely expedition, with travel agents in the area reporting a spike in bookings.

Daomu author Xu Lei, who has been dubbed "China's Stephen King", does not share his readers' enthusiasm for the quest, however.

In an open letter to fans on Chinese social network Sina Weibo, Xu implored his readers not to overburden resorts and cause damage to the environment by arriving en masse to pay tribute to their fictional heroes.

Not everyone has been caught up in the Changbai mania. The BBC quotes one baffled fan, who commented on Weibo: "We all like this book, rational behaviour is OK… But it's like a lot of people have joined a cult."